Ultimately, Shows about Nothing toes the line between something and nothing to suggest how popular culture can move beyond nihilism.--Thomas Kelly, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Princeton University "Weekly Standard"

The glamorous portrayal of evil in film and television, frequently denounced as an attack on family values and an incitement to real-life violence, is more complicated and more disturbing than we realize. Exploring the themes and artistry of landmark films and television shows, Thomas Hibbs argues that the demonic antiheroes and seductive comic evil of popular culture are not weapons in a conscious cultural assault, but reactions to the apathy and conformity of American life. -- Why is The Exorcist a family film? -- Are Forrest Gump and Natural Born Killers about the same thing? -- What do It's a Wonderful Life and Pulp Fiction have in common?

"Often denounced as nihilistic and even degenerate, film noir seems an unlikely antidote to the despair of contemporary popular culture. But at the heart of these dark films is a spiritual quest that is profoundly hopeful. In a fascinating re-evaluation of "American noir," Thomas Hibbs argues that these powerful tales of sin and redemption embody religious themes that are essential for cultural renewal." "Starting with early noir classics such as Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon, Hibbs reveals their surprising connection with contemporary quest films such as The Passion, The Sixth Sense, and Spider-Man. Despite its roots in the heyday of Hollywood Marxism, noir even displays a distinctly conservative bent - redemption is personal, not political, and scientific rationalism fails to deliver on its sunny promises." "Arts of Darkness explores not only the shadowy works of the 1940s and 1950s but also recent films in which the dark themes of noir converge with the quest for redemption. Hibbs dubs these diverse but related works "American noir," a term that encompasses Chinatown and Taxi Driver, The Matrix and The Terminator, American Beauty and Thelma and Louise. Hibbs insists that these tragic and gritty films stand among the most powerful religious narratives of our time."--BOOK JACKET.

Explores philosophical themes and ideas inherent in classic noir and neo-noir films, establishing connections to diverse thinkers ranging from Camus to the Frankfurt School. The authors, each focusing on a different aspect of the genre, explores the philosophical underpinnings of classic films.

The devil gets his due in the latest entry in the Pop Culture and Philosophy series. Supervillains and Philosophy features an international cabal of philosophers and comics industry professionals conspiring to reveal the dark details — and deeper meanings — lurking behind today’s most popular comic book monsters. Whether it’s their moral justification for world domination or the wavering boundaries they share with the modern anti-hero, everyone's favorite villains generate as much attention as their heroic counterparts. The 20 essays in this accessible book explore the nature of supervillainy, examine the boundaries of good and evil, offer helpful advice to prospective supervillains, and untangle diabolical puzzles of identity and consciousness. All the legends are here, from Dr. Doom and the Spectre to the Joker and the Watchmen, reconsidered through the lens of classic and modern philosophy.

This book explores the idea of nihilism, emphasized by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, through its appearance in modern popular culture. The author defines and reflects upon nihilism, then explores its manifestation in films and television shows. Among the subjects examined are the award-winning television series The Sopranos and the film noir genre that preceded and influenced it. Films probed include Orson Welles’s masterpiece Citizen Kane, the films of Stanley Kubrick, Neil Jordan’s controversial The Crying Game and Richard Linklater’s unconventional Waking Life. Finally, the author considers nihilism in terms of the decay of traditional values in the genre of westerns, mostly through works of filmmaker John Ford. In the concluding chapter the author broadens the lessons gleaned from these studies, maintaining that the situated and embodied nature of human life must be understood and appreciated before people can overcome the life-negating effects of nihilism.

How is Jerry like Socrates? Is it rational for George to ''do the opposite? '' Would Simone de Beauvoir say that Elaine is a feminist? Is Kramer stuck in Kierkegaard's aesthetic stage? Seinfeld and Philosophy is both an enlightening look at the most popular sitcom of the decade and an entertaining introduction to philosophy via Seinfeld's plots and characters. These fourteen essays, which explore the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Lao-Tzu, Heidegger, Kant, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Wittgenstein, will show readers how to be masters of their philosophical domain.

After a slow and inauspicious beginning, Seinfeld broke through to become one of the most commercially successful sitcoms in the history of television. This fascinating book includes classic articles on the show by Geoffrey O'Brien and Bill Wyman (first published in the New York Review of Books and Salon.com respectively), and a selection of new and revised essays by some of the top television scholars in the US - looking at issues as wide-ranging as Seinfeld's Jewishness, alleged nihilism, food obsession, and long-running syndication. The book also includes a comprehensive episode guide, and Betty Lee's lexicon of Seinfeld language.

In a promotional video for the eighth season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David appears as Godzilla, walking through the streets of New York City, terrorizing everyone who sees him. People scream and run for their lives. Larry, meanwhile, has a quizzical look on his face and asks, “What, are you people nuts?” What makes Larry a monster, and why doesn’t he know that he’s a monster? Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy discusses several answers to these questions. This book revolves around Curb-Larry, the character that the real Larry David plays on HBO’s popular television series: his outlook on life, his unusual ways of interacting with people, his inability or unwillingness to conform to the world. Many of the chapters discuss ethical and existential issues, such as whether Larry is a “bad apple.” Larry doesn’t ask questions about free will, or wonder whether the world outside our minds really exists because he’s more like Socrates than Descartes. He tells bitter truths about how we live our lives. There's something heroic about Larry's independence from social conventions, and something tragic about his tendency to hurt people with his frankness. It's hard not to ask, should we curb our enthusiasm?